Receptacle closure



Mafch 11941. J. D. REIFSNYDEAR RECEPTACLE CLOSURE Filed ept. 3, 1938INVENTOR.

dimes 0 RE/FS/WDER.

' w W fi; AT oRNEYs' Patented Mar. 4, 1941 UNITED STATES PATENT oFFlcsRECEPTACLE CLOSURE James D. Reifsnyder, Flushing, N. Y., assignor toLily-Tulip Cup Corporation, New York, N. Y., a corporation of DelawareApplication September 3, 1938, Serial No. 228,406 a Claims.

- containers; but all having the common feature of a lip formed byrolling or curling an outwardly extending bead (usually round incross-section) on the upper marginal edge of said receptacle.

Heretofore, disc covers, seated in an inner annular recess or shouldersomewhat below the beaded lip and positioned entirely within thereceptacle, have been commonly used. It 'has also been attempted toprovide a suitable cover for such receptacles, which would extendoutside the lip, but no successful solution of this problem has beenfound heretofore.

' One of the desired features of such a cover is that it be formedcompletely before it is placed in position; another is that it bereadily applied and self-locking when placed in position; another isthat it be compact and easy to ship either separately or when in appliedposition; and another is that it be adapted to rapid and economicproduction.

An object of this invention is to produce an article possessing theadvantages and free from the objections heretofore referred to; and atthe same time providing an article which might be economically andcommercially manufactured.

This invention consists in the novel features,

arrangements and combination of parts embodied by way of example in thearticle hereinafter described as-illustrating the preferred form of theinvention, and the invention will be more particularly pointed out inthe appended claims.

This application is a continuation in part of my copending applicationSer. No. 187,121, filed January 2'7, 1938.

Further objects, features and advantages of the invention will appearfrom the following speciflcation and-claims taken in connection with theaccompanying drawing, in which Fig.- 1 is a plan view of the inventionin its present preferred form; I

Fig. 2 is a sectional view in elevation taken at 2-2 of Fig. 1 showingthe co er in cooperative closed position on a receptacle, the lowerportion of which is broken away, and v Fig. 3 isv a view similar to Fig.2 and shows a modification of the cover structure.

Referring to the drawing, and more particularly to Fig. 2: thereceptacle is indicated in general as I and is provided at its uppermarginal edge with a beaded edge 2 which forms the lip of the receptacleand which is substantially circular in cross-section. No claim is madeherein for the novelty of this receptacle per se since it isrepresentative of receptacles well known in the art.

. The cover is indicated in its entirety as 3 and comprises a topportion 4 and a dependent peripheral flange designated in its entiretyas 5 and formed integrally with the top 4 in the manner to be moreparticularly described following; the unitary structure being made ofone piece of sheet material. In the present embodiment, the material ispaper having a thickness of approxi- .mately .025", although it iswithin the contemplation of the invention that other similar :fl-- brousmaterial may be employed and that the thickness may be varied to anextent not con- I trary to the teachings of the invention.

The flange 5 is formed and is proportioned and positioned as follows.The marginal peripheral portion of the blank, of which the top 4 formsthe central portion, is bent downwardly at 6 and extends substantiallyvertically along the upper wall of the flange as at 1 and then continuesalong the path of a substantially closed loop forming thereby a lowerpronounced hollow beaded lower edge 8, from which the stock then extendsupwardly and along the inner face of the outer ply l, as at 9, and thisinner ply continues upwardly to a point closely adjacent the inner faceof the top 4 adjacent the bend 6. It will be noted that the lower bead 8of the flange 5 is offset inwardly, as by having the intermediateportion of the flange indented inwardly at l0, and the distance of thisoffset is preferably about half of the width of the bead 8, and it is tobe further noted that the head 8 is spaced downwardly from the top 4, bythe two-ply upper wall portion 1, for a dis tance substantially equal tothe vertical diameter of said bead. While the foregoing relativedimentions are considered preferable, it will be understood by thoseskilled in the art after understanding the invention that they may besomewhat varied and such variations which fall within the teaching ofthe invention are intended to be comprehended therein.

The top 4 of the cover 3 is embossed or indented downwardly to providean annular groove therewith an inner annular arched peripheral zone forreceiving the rounded lip or head 2 of the receptacl I. The top 4 of thecover 3 is also preferably provided, as by embossing or indenting, witha plurality of transverse grooves l2 and I3 with the outer ends of saidgrooves lying closely contiguous the annular groove II.

The cover may be thus formed rapidly and economically as a separate unitto be placed in cooperative engagement on the container at will. Thecover is inserted on the container as illustrated in Fig. 2 by merelypressing down upon the cover, whereby the resilient flange is expandedoutwardly permitting the cover bead 8 to pass over the receptacle bead2, which is facilitated by the respectively engaging inclines of thesebeads provided by the rounded contour of the same; and on the coverbeing seated in the position indicated in the drawing, the bead 8, inview of the peculiar construction and disposition of the parts,contracts inwardly to firmly and positively seal the cover in closedposition on the container. In this connection it is noted that theannular groove or recess H in combination with the flange 5 causes thecover to partially embrace the bead 2 and additionally providesincreased rigidity at the outer marginal edge of the cover to facilitatethe sealing action of the mation of the lower beaded edge of the covercover, as well as to maintain the cover in proper shape prior to itsinsertion on the container; the transverse grooves or recesses l2 and I3cooperating with the groove II in this respect and serving jointly withth head 8 to impart sub stantially increased rigidity to the relativelythin I paper stock.

in devices of this kind the facility of removing the cover is of utmostimportance, and one of the serious problems heretofore has been toproduce a cover which, while embodying the other essentialcharacteristics, still provided this essential feature. In thisconnection it is noted that the inner ply 9 extends upwardly adjacentthe inner face of the outer ply I to such an extent as to projectexteriorly of the bead 2 of the receptacle, thereby providing an innerinclined wall portion whose cooperative engagement with the lower curvedunder edge of the bead 2 of the receptacle greatly facilitates thewithdrawal of the cover from the receptacle without destroying orotherwise detracting from the usefulness of the cover. This last featureis also of considerable importance since devices of this kind are widelyused for packing commodities of various kinds and which are used inquantities less than the contents of the container, whereby it is highlydesirable to have a cover which may be repeatedly removed and replacedwithout destroy ing the useful properties of the cover or of thereceptacle on which it is used.

Modification The modification illustrated in Fig. 3 differs from thestructure shown in Fig. 2 in the forfiange. This modification will nowbe more particularly described with reference to Fig. 3 in which similarparts of the structure are designated with the same numerals employed inFig. 2 with the prime sufiix added, in order to indicate thecorresponding'parts of the two embodiments.

The receptacle is indicated in general as I and is provided witha beadedmarginal upper edge or lip 2'. The cover is indicated in its entirety as3' and comprises a. top portion a and of sheet material as in theembodiment previously described with reference to Fig. 2. 1

The flange 5' is formed and isproportioned and positioned as follows:The marginal peripheral portion of the blank, of which the top 4 formsthe central portion, is bent downwardly. at

6' and extends in a vertical direction downwardly along the upper wallof the fiangeas at 1', extends gradually wardly and is then folded orbent inwardly and inwardly and then flares outupwardly so as to extendupwardly along the inner face of the outer ply I as at 9', and thisinner ply continues upwardly to a point adjacent the top 4" adjacent thebend 6'. The lower edge of this two-ply flange is provided with a beadedlower edge 8'; the beaded edge of this embodiment being convex on itsinner side and concave on its outer side instead of being convex on bothits inner and outer sides as'in the previous embodiment illustrated inFig, 2. As is the case with the previous embodiment of Fig. 2, the innerconvex beaded face is offset inwardlyas at ll! so that the bead projectsinwardly beyond the inside of the flange portion intermediate the saidhead and the said top. The beaded edge 8' of the flange 5' functions insubstantially the same manner as previously described in connection withthe embodiment of Fig. 2 but it is to be noted thatin the embodiment ofFig. 3 the vertical extentof the bead 8 is somewhat greater than thecorresponding dimension of the bead of Fig. 2 for the same amount ofpaper stock; and accordingly the convexity is somewhat less pronouncedand results in providing a lower lip portion of more gradual curvature,thereby facilitating the insertion of the cover in position on thecontainer.

In addition to the foregoing beneficial features of the invention, thedesirable structural characteristics have been attained in a manner toproduce a' cover highly pleasing in appearance and one which occupies aminimum of space for shipping and the like.

Having thus described my invention with particularity with reference toits preferred forms,

it will be obvious to those skilled in the art, after understanding myinvention, that other changes and modifications may be made thereinwithout departing from the spirit and scope of my invenhead beingsubstantially-less than the inner diameter of said flange intermediatesaid bead and said top and said bead providing a downwardly andoutwardly inclined lip adjacent the lower edge of said flange. fl

2. A one-piece paper closure comprising a top and a two-ply dependentperipheral flange having a beaded lower edge spaced downwardly from saidtop a distance substantially as great as the vertical diameter of said athickness substantially equal to the combined bead by a side wall ofthicknesses of said two plies, said beaded lower edge being oflsetinwardly in a radial direction a distance substantially as great as 'theradial depth 0! said head.

3. A one-piece paper closure comprising a top and a two-ply dependentperipheral flange having a hollow convex beaded lower edge spaceddownwardly from said top a distance su bstam tially as great as thevertical diameter of said bead by a side wall of a thicknesssubstantially equal to the combined thicknesses of said two plies, saidhollow beaded lower edge being ofiset inwardly in a radial direction adistance substantially as great as one-half the radial diameter of saidbead.

4. A one-piece'paper closure comprising a top and a two-ply dependentperipheral flange having a hollow resilient beaded lower edge spaceddownwardly from said top by a side wall of' a thickness substantiallyequal to the combined thicknesses of said'two plies, said top beingprovided with an annular downwardly extending groove whose outerdiameter is less than the inside diameter of the hollow beaded edge ofsaid flange, and transversely disposed downwardly extending grooveswhose outer ends lie contiguous said annular groove.

5. In combination, a receptacle having'an outwardly extendingsubstantially narrow beaded lip and a one-piece paper closure thereforcomprising a topwith a down-turned flange whose upper wall portion is oftwo-ply thickness with the inner face thereof disposed closely adjacentthe outer diameter'of said lip and whose. lower extremity is provided bythe fold of said two plies with a beaded edge adapted to engage beneathsaid lip and whose inner diameter is substantially less than the outerdiameter or said lip, said beaded edge permitting the flange to besnapped over the beaded lip of the container and serving to securelyhold said closure in sealed engagement therewith.

